Pulse
by UntilTheSunshineComes
Summary: I made a grave mistake. And now I am stuck with a person that I think I hate. And everything is chaos, this mistake is changing everything the wizarding world knows about the population and genetics issue.
1. Tripped Up

"Hermione! Hermione! Hey, wait up!" screamed Ron. Lavender walking quickly behind him trying to catch up.

Shit, he saw me.

I have been avoiding Ron since I heard he was engaged to Lavender. Just a week ago I thought I still had a chance with Ron and that Lavender was once again a passing fancy. But come to find out that I am the passing fancy.

Ron wearing a burgundy jumper that only made his hair stand out even more and Lavender wearing matching witches robes dress made them seem like a perfect couple. Maybe they are made for each other. Besides if I really thought about the only thing that me and Ron have in common is Harry and of course our dangerous adventures.

"Hey Ron, Lavender." Lavender nodded at me. It's like she thinks that she is second choice. Ron is only with her because I said no in the first place. Ha! All lies. After we kissed in the Chamber of Secrets, I asked him if he wanted to take our friendship to the next level. He was the one that rejected me.

At the time it seemed like I was the one that was being extremely emotional especially with all of the after war that was going on all around us.

"So, I just wanted to tell you the news. Me and Lav are finally getting married. I asked her last night it was wonderful." Ron said with an excited smile on his face.

"Yes it was wonderful, very romantic." Why does Lavender look the opposite of happy then. Maybe she has indigestion.

"Either way I have to go to the loo really fast. Can you keep Lav company for a bit?" He was walking away as he asked this.

"Lavender, Are you excited for -"

"Oh my god, it has been an absolute disaster this past week. I mean I love Ron but did he have to propose to me under a dying rotting tree he could have planned this better. Why did he just do what I suggested when we were talking about proposals like 2 months ago. I do not know what I am going to do with that man. UGH!" She kept rambling and I tuned her out.

To be completely honest she should be happy Ron proposed at all since a few nights ago he asked me to marry him, he was pissed drunk, I bet he doesn't even remember the night. But it did make my heart do a small pitter patter.

_**Flashback **_

_Harry, Ron, Ginny, Luna, Susan, and surprisingly Theodore Nott we were all at the Upside Down Broom, having a drink. Theodore Nott has been becoming a staple with our group and to be honest he's great. Smart and I could actually have conversations with him. He keeps saying that he is going to invite more snakes to our little group. But this is his third outing with us and he hasn't brought anybody yet. _

_Ron and Harry was completely sloshed and I was halfway there. In fact I should probably get home. I turned to Theo. _

_"I should get myself home before I turn into a disaster." _

_"Yeah, me too." To me he looked fine. "You should also see about the fumbling duo over there." He pointed to Harry and Ron trying to hold each other up. I make my way towards them and Ginny bumps into me. _

_"I got Harry, Hermione. You get Ron. Honestly it's like they are still seventeen the way they drink." _

_"Come on, babe. We got to go home. I bet you want your bed." Ginny grabbed Harry pulling him towards the door. _

_"Gin, oh Gin, you're so pretty and nice. I love you so much." Harry was all over Ginny as she took him toward the door to apparate out. _

_I grabbed Ron, "Hey Ron, you want to head home, I'll apparate you and let you get to bed." _

_"Hermione. Heeerrrrrrrrrrr-my-knee! Your names weird. But I love you just the same. I just want you to know." He gives me a cheeky grin, I roll my eyes. He's really heavy. I took his arm and slung it over my shoulder and partially carried him out. _

_"Thank you, Hermione." I apparated and land in his living room. Ron has been living alone for sometime. Lavender has been really admandent about not living with him without being married. It was a small place with one bedroom but his living space was quite spacious with a connecting kitchen only separated by a counter. He had a big comfy sectional couch. Ron's place was homey just like him. _

_I took him to his bed room and removed his shoes, as he sat on the bed and just stared at me while I did this. _

_"Hermione," he said just as I finished. I looked up and noticed he looked starry eyed. "I know that I said I needed time at the end of the war when you asked if I wanted to be more than friends. But I realize now that, I have always loved you, let's run right now and get married. What do you say?" _

_My heart stopped, I didn't know what to think. I wasn't breathing, wasn't making any movements. I just stared at him. He laid down with his feet still hanging off the bed and me kneeling on the floor. "I just really love you, Hermione." _

_"I don't really think -" I heard a loud snore come from Ron. I took a deep breath and shook my head and stood up carefully as to not wake him. Even though I should. Headed to the livingroom and apperated out to my apartment. _

_**End of Flashback **_

I honestly don't understand what happened afterward I decided to see if he would owl me the next day. But nothing changed, he was still with Lavender and I was still alone and wanting someone that supposedly didn't want me in the first place. But don't they say that, 'A drunk mind speaks a sober heart' does he actually love me?

Let me not confuse myself and let's look at the facts. Ron rejected me after the war. He is now with Lavender and has been with her for the past 3 years. Not once in the past 5 years has he acted or given me a hint that he has feeling for me. This dictates that, that night was a total fluke and he really does not feel anything for me except platonic feeling of a friendship that has lasted almost 12 years.

"Ok, Lav lets go! Bye, Hermione see you for Sunday dinner, yeah?" Ron had come back and Lavender looked significantly happier. I guess she got past proposal faux pas'.

"Yeah, Sunday dinner." Sunday dinners, every single sunday, I got see up close and personal how single I actually was everyone had a significant other. They were either married about to get married or on a speedy road to engagement. Even Luna had Neville and they both made an appearance at the dinners. Everyone went it seemed.

The Ministry was slightly busy today it seemed. People arrived here from all over. After the war the Ministry revamped itself and made stronger connections to other Ministries and Government around the world. And made a stronger connection to the muggle world as well. They saw the benefits of advancing into a better age, because it seemed to me, when I arrived it was still stuck in the middle ages, with its archaic views and practices.

I made my way towards the elevator, making my way inside and saying my saying my destination. "Department of Mysteries". The Department of Mysteries was a massive portion of the Ministry. Many people knew about the different sections that were actual mysteries and those are the parts that most people know about but do not know specifics.

I work in a subsection, of a subsection of the Ministry called Potions. Mostly we create new potions and researched ingredients that might increase, decrease or change the way a potion might affect the population.

Many of the subsections opened up after the war because of the views between dark and light magic. A lot of Dark magic is very useful but is considered dark because they might use a ingredients or have intent to do harm, same with light.

This interested me early, when I started my travels. Especially intent on spells, the fact that someone could cast an Imperio, with the intention to make someone take better care of themselves or something not intended to take away their free will but as a tool of therapy, seemed particularly interesting.

But then towards the end of my travels I encountered several dark ingredients and researched their properties to see if they could be used in order to make certain potions stronger. Other magical cultures were using different ingredients to do the same thing. I realized there was a fine line between dark and light magic and that, that line could be easily be erased just by seeing the reactions that a light potion meant to cure an illness could do to a dark potion meant to poison its victims.

In all my research, studies and travel were very fruitful and the Department of Mysteries continues to see the benefits of having me on their team. I was actually offered many positions within the ministry but this one allowed me to actually do what I love best, research a topic to death.

I worked rather closely with Severus Snape, he is my superior as he has a Masters in potion which I am working towards by apprenticing with him as well as working for the Department of Mysteries. I love all the work and research I do.

Professor Snape has a rather interesting story, he was indeed bitten by Nagini and was left to die by Voldemort when Harry, Ron and I stumbled across him. I fortunately had something in my little purse to help him. That thankfully gave him enough energy to get to the hospital wing before he bleed out to death or was killed by Nagini's poison. He almost did not make it and it was by some magical miracle that he was able to survive.

After about 2 years of healing, he was able to go back to teaching at Hogwarts but after a year he decided to resign. Saying that he was done teaching children that don't appreciate that fine art of potions and Headmistress Mcgonagall, let him. She had offered me a place to teach at Hogwarts but I had refused as well saying that I wanted to explore and act my age for once. She understood of course and said that if I ever needed a place to stay that Hogwarts was always open for me.

Professor Snape said that he apparently had improved a potion that the Ministry was using that had some negative effects on people, and after that they had offered him a place in the potions department.

It's been 5 years since the end of the war. The year following the war I went back to Hogwarts seeking to finish my education, Ron and Harry decide they would much rather work as Auror since the positions were basically thrown at them. Severus was not there it was quite dreadful without a competent potions professor.

During Hogwarts, I had gotten a few offers from all over. But I had decide to travel the world and experienced all sorts of culture. Every once in a while I would come to find that nothing had changed drastically. I figured that the war had changed me and everyone but at that time it seemed it only changed me. Everyone was still getting together with their predicted mate, except me.

After my third year of traveling, I heard of an offer for the Department of Mysteries as an assistant Potioneer and I decided to take it. I figured it was time to settle and I had learned and researched different techniques from all over the world. That's when I realized that I would be working closely with Professor Snape, sorry Severus. I would be assisting him, the thought scared me. But we have come to an understanding, somewhat.

"You are late. If you insist on making these potions on your own you should be here on time." I just would like to mention I was almost never late. Hell, it wasn't even my fault this time, stupid Ron.

"Sorry, Professor Snape." We've only been working together for 3 years, I still can't bring myself to calling him Severus. Only in my head. Sev-er-us. I swear he finds it amusing that he can still intimidate me.

The space we have is a grand and state-of-the-art potions laboratory, everything in shine metal so it's easy to clean. It reminds me of an industrial kitchen with high ceilings everytime I go inside. There are several rows of stainless steel tables with holes in them for potions and knobs to control the heat. I could tell Professor Snape loved this place, every once in a while I'd notice a slight smile but honestly it could be a trick of the eye.

I take off my coat and hang it by the door and start to look around to see the status of each of my personal potions and experimentations. They were coming along nicely, if I do say so myself.

There was one potion though, that has been simmering in the back, in one of the biggest caldrons, since before I started working here. Professor Snape had told me that it had something to do with population, and that it was one of the potions that we would be developing over time. He also told me that everything about the potion could be found in the journals right next to the potion. I read them all when I started working here and saw small ways we could tweak the potion to make more lenient on people.

Apparently, the Wizarding population all over the world had been decreasing exponentially every 10 years or so. And all wizarding governments have been in discussion about what to do about it. They don't want to shock the public by bringing it to light before it actually becomes a big problem. But after the war, the Ministry really saw the effects of a decreasing population, there was no baby boom after the war and most couples are now having much more squibs than the years before.

Therefore they started working on this potion and if the problems persist in the next 10 years then they will have to use it or else in the following 50 there will be no wizarding folks left.

I have researched this potion and alternative extensively. The potion was originally just design for the person that drank to have multiple partners in which they would provide a full wizarding child, no matter compatibility. I have adapted the potion to include compatibility on a different type of categories. The only thing that I haven't been able to dull in the attraction. It is quite strong. Of course I have not been able to test it out, but I know it's quite strong because it works like Amortentia, where it creates a fake love. At the same time matching you with a compatible person that you could have a wizarding offspring.

I have several alternatives to dull the Amortentia effect and hopefully one of them work today. At least that is what I am working on today since I had a genius idea on what could work last night as I was having tea before bed. There are multiple herbs that people use to calm anxiety and stress. And I started researching the effects of herbs on potions, and some could change the harsh reactions of some potions.

For example, a person in the mid 1800s dabbled with Veritaserum and trying to calm the reaction by adding a tea herb and he found out that it worked to an extent. You still felt the need to say the truth but it was not painful when you tried to lie. Let just say he got in a lot trouble as he was a fugitive from the law.

I was holding Matricaria recutita extracted oil, Rhodiola leaves and Passiflora Incarnata powder to see if I could make the potion work as desired.

I didn't see it, I swear as I started walking with my 3 ingredients to the potions work table near the clear shimmering steaming liquid in the caldron but suddenly I was flying and the Rhodiola leaves were flying everywhere. I saw them land in the potion, I saw a huge amount land in the potion. My eyes went wide when the potion suddenly rose up about 8 or 9 feet into the lab and exploded into a large BOOM.

I saw the wave originate from the explosion, it knocked me off my feet. I saw Snape running towards me at full speed.

"Ms.Granger! Are you alright?!" I then proceeded to vomit and faint.


	2. Fried

"Ms. Granger, are you alright?" I heard Snape ask me, again as I came to. Nodding my head I stood up.

"What happened?" I vaguely remembered seeing a potion explode.

"You are absolute idiot. Do you know what you did? You unleashed that potion before it was even properly developed and now we do not know the consequences. Right now, all I want to do is find a way out of the lab. I need to go find something, someone. But the elevators are locked and an alarm is going off." I have never heard Professor Snape talk like this. I realized that he was scared and that was making me panic. He has faced Voldemort evil of all time and he is scared now.

Suddenly, I feel a rush, a need to leave, I have a place I absolutely have to get to. "I need to go, what do you mean the elevator is not working." I start to get up, and feel a little dizzy but I need to go.

"Ms. Granger, I understand your urgency, I need to go as well. But I have tried everything, the elevators will not respond and the stairs do not exist, need I remind you that we are indeed underground." I start to notice that this is highly usually, I should breathe, we should breathe. If we don't we might start to panic and that would not be good.

"We are starting to panic we need to breathe. Ok, the ministry has security maneuvers after the war that is probably what this is. We just need to wait it out a little and see what happens." He took the words straight out of my mouth.

"The potion this might be one of the symptoms of it, the urgency to find the person you are matched with. We should see if adding something else would have an adverse reaction." I walked towards where I dropped the other ingredients and decide that I should add the Matricaria recutita extracted oil. The potion seemed still, it looked like all of it just went back into the caldron. Interesting.

"Ms. Granger perhaps you shouldn't just drop things into an unstable potion." I heard Snape say but this had to work and anyway he seemed distracted.

"So just two drops of this just to calm the urgency and besides the potion looks harmless now," I put the drops in and this time it was more like a pulse that travelled, at least this time it did not go up in the air. "Don't you feel calmer?" I felt sleepy. Professor Snape was laying on the table like a sultan, when did he get up there. Maybe that was too calm.

"I'll add some Passiflora Incarnata powder, maybe that will bring us back to normal."

"Ok, lets just calm down and stop adding things to an UNSTABLE POTION!" Maybe Snape has a point but its like an impulse. I added a whole tablespoon of the powder, a large wave just expanded off the caldron. Snape had tried to stop me and he was on his way when the wave went off, we both landed on the floor. The alarm is still going off and then we heard an announcement. "All Ministry guest and Employees please report to the atrium for this emergency. All Ministry guest and Employees please report of the atrium for this emergency. . ."

"Lets go. You have a lot of explaining to do." Snape was shaking his head. We got on the elevator and it went up like a shot not stopping at any floor. When we got to the main floor, feeling dizzy, I saw the Statue of Secrecy and everybody around it. A podium and a small stage had been set up along the large fountain. A tall, thin man with dark skin and dark eyes, with dreads down until the middle of his back stood up on the stage, motioning people to come closer to the stage.

The whole ministry must be in the atrium give or take a few. Not to mention those that were simply visiting.

"Ok now that we are all here, there was an explosion down in the Department of Mysteries that we tried to contain but ended up failing. That's fine, there nothing to be concerned about. We are working to see what are the effects of the waves. So far nobody has be exhibiting anything physical so that's a relief." The tall man with nondescript features laughed a little, I guess trying to alleviate the tension. Do they not know it originated from the potions department. I really messed up, I must not have research enough. Me, Hermione Granger, brightest witch of her age, did not research an ingredients, many ingredients, reaction to all the pieces in a very potent potion that could affect the whole world. I start to tear up. SHIT!

I still feel the slight pull toward something, someone probably cause that is what the potion is supposed to do. Professor Snape is standing behind me boring holes into me. He does not have to kill me with his stare, I know I did wrong.

Tears were forming in my eyes, I looked up and around still feeling the pull getting string my the second. That's when I saw him, standing there tall, at least a foot taller than me, platinum blond hair and tailored robes that hugged his bottom in just the right way to make the announcement of an nice arse. I couldn't look away his stature, his hair, the way I wanted to climb up onto his shoulders was mesmerizing. His arse was calling to me, squeezable and his legs looked powerful as if he ran everyday under his tailored pants.

Now usually I am really shy when talking to a person that I like but I couldn't stay or look away. I started walking towards him with purpose. As I got closer I realized he looked vaguely familiar. I got closer to him, and it was like he finally sensed that I was there because he suddenly turns around.

"Granger?"

"Malfoy." I sigh. He walked the few steps left towards me He touches my waist and gently pulls me to him, tilt his head and his lips meet mine in a gentle kiss. The kiss got heated his hands itching towards the seam of my shirt. Mine going toward his hair and I hear a distant voice.

"Ms. Granger! What on earth are you doing?" Vaguely sounding like Professor Snape. Wait, why would Professor Snape be in this horrible dream where I am kissing Draco Malfoy and he is a fantastic kisser, and I want to more than kiss him. Oh, he's touching my skin.

"Mr. Malfoy, Ms. Granger desist this instant!" I stopped and looked around. I seemed this was akin to the dream where I go into work without trousers. I look back at Malfoy and realize he is in the same predicament. Somehow that provides me with some relief. We look back at each other and realize that we are way too close and jump apart.

Both of us are silent.

"Maybe there are some slight side effects from the blast. We can assure you it is not contagious." The guy at the front starts chuckling again before we see the Minister arrive.

"Witches and Wizards of the Ministry, I think it will be best if everyone just go home until we figure things out, we will send notice later on during the day to inform you of on goings. Just Heads and Assistant of Departments should stay and since this originated from the Department of Mysteries all employees should stay." People start to leave the atrium, some people leaving right away and some returning to their desk to get what they need to leave.

I saw Draco Malfoy, start to head towards to the floo areas. I felt a sense of longing I didn't want him to go. He looked back and turned around and looked like he was about to come back towards me. When I felt Professor Snape look sternly at Draco and he turned back around and took the floo shouting, "Malfoy House".

I understand these feeling are unnatural right now but I can not help what I am feeling. It's unreal. Thinking back now that he is gone, I realize that I started feeling this anxiousness right when the first wave came from the explosion.

"Ms. Granger lets go to this meeting before more foolish behavior takes effect." Professor Snape also was feeling the way that I was feeling also. I could tell by the way he was looking around shooting eyes everywhere. Searching.

"Professor Snape, were you not also feeling the same urgency that I was at the time of the first wave?"

"Yes, but I also realized that I was not feeling this out of my own volition." He always has a great sense of self control. We took the elevator down to the Department of Mysteries meeting room.

"Ok, now that we are all here. We really messed up this time. What you felt was an explosion of matching pheromones. Essentially, it will make you want to go and seek out the person are most compatible in the wizarding world. In terms of fertility, sexuality, knowledge and more. But it wasn't ready in terms of timing it was not supposed to go out until we had a better grasp on the situation." Our Department lead was talking, Leander Geheimnis, his last name literally meant mysterious and as far as I know he has been here forever but does not look older than 50. With Blond hair and blue eyes and extremely pale skin. Some would think he is a vampire but he's not nocturnal and I have seen him with a bit of a tan in the years that I have been working here. "The population of Wizarding England has been decimated by war and our birth rates have not been great either. Meaning that our population has been decreasing every year for the past 50 years. After the last passing war people having been matching up, but our population still has not seen any growth. This means that all couples have had either low fertility rates among them or are not compatible."

"As you know, in order to have a magical child both parents need to be compatible or else there would be a chance that the child could turn out with disabilities and non-magical. This is not horrible but they would not register in our ledger which in turn decreases our population."

"The pulse that you felt a few hours ago, was set to make you want to go and seek out your mate. The second and third pulse was no mistake, it was to decrease the need because by then we had realized we had release a rather potent pulse on to the Wizarding World. Hopefully no one got hurt." He chuckled. "The first pulse take in to no account of current relationships so even if the person was married or engaged, they would still have that need to find their compatible mate."

"What happens now?" A person closer to Leander Geheimnis asked.

"Well we are going in to this with full transparency. A lot of people still do not trust the Ministry after the war. Therefore, we will put out an official statement explaining what happened. And what are the side effects. And explaining that matches that have been made are compulsory and cannot be avoided under no circumstances. In fact that pulse will make you not want to be apart from the person you are matched with, the more time you spend apart from the more you will want them. There is no point in trying to avoid it."

I can't believe this is happening, I thought I was just going to continue growing my career until I eventually found someone who appreciate my natural charm and workaholic tendencies. Snape looked terrified. I still can't believe this is all my fault.

I raised my hand as if I was still a child in school and asked, Geheimnis nodded my way "Is there any way to reverse this?"

"I do not know. I think that's a better question to ask yourself, now isn't it? But as it stands it will be permanent and will not be reversed. We need more research on the potion to learn what exactly happened and who it affected." He know it was me. I am getting fired, I will end up the streets of Knockturn Alley with nothing but the clothes my back, begging for people to throw scraps of food my way.

"Miss Granger and Mister Snape, will you stay behind? I would like to speak of you both privately." Fuck! Shit! No! I did not think it would be so soon.

Me and Snape followed behind Geheimnis into his office. It was bright with fake windows as we were in the bowels of the ministry. The employees must really like him if he had sunlight in his office. It had two supple leather chairs in front of a large dark oak desk with a large regal looking swivel chair right behind it. Geheimnis took a seat and gestured for us to accept the other chairs. I sunk into the chair it was almost too comfortable for the conversation that was about to take place.

"So I imagine, one of you knows what exactly happen for the pulses to go off when and how they did. Please tell me the story."

"Miss Granger, I would also like to know what was happening in the overgrown head of yours." I head is not big, it's just my hair. He's the overgrown bat. I had the sudden urge to stick my tongue out at him but held it in.

"Well I wanted to advance the potion and see what I could do to improve it as how I have been doing while i have been working. And through some research I was able to determine some herbs that might be beneficial to lowering the effects of the potion in the long run. But something went wrong the potion had adverse effect to these simple herb that i was not expecting. Something must be missing from the notes that have been written. I have read these notes a thousand time the ingredients that I included to change or tweak the potion should not have had detonated a pulse or wave, whatever it was."

"Well Miss Granger, of course something was missing from the notes. If you had read the name on the cover of the books you would have notices that the maker of the potion is none other than Horace Slughorn, insipid man." I saw Snape nodding along. My mouth was just open, I knew that Horace Slughorn tended to leave important and sometimes crucial facts from potions notes, and therefore well chaos. "Brilliant Potions Master but a rather stupid man, to leave out important things." Professor Slughorn had died a few years past before I entered into the Ministry.

"No matter what is done is done we were actually about to hold a meeting that the potion was going to become public in the next few weeks. We have realized that our population has dwindled dramatically and there has actually have been no births so far this year and it already almost June."

Dread fill every inch of my body. I was doomed to spend basically an eternity with Malfoy as my one and only partner. This had to be a nightmare.


	3. Ramble

We were dismissed and told to report tomorrow for work and more announcements about the Matching Pulse, as they have now taken to calling it. They discouraged everyone in the department to find who they were matched to as the there will be a ledger of the couples out in the next few days since the pulse was still in effect and they effectively created it so they would have a list of couples out. So people would not be confused and everything could be organized correctly.

At this point I don't know if I should scream or cry or laugh. I am hysterical by the time I get home. My small grey cat Moonlight is roaming around following Crookshanks. I should calm down a bit, after all it is not the end of the world.

Moonlight was a gift from Luna surprisingly after the war we became great friends, and met up a couple of times when I was travelling since she was travelling too in search of mysterious creature. Afterwards she joined the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures which is being renamed Department of Magical Creatures as now they are dealing with laws that would give rights to magical creature that could self reflect. Such as house elves and werewolves, who are still considered creatures although they are humans for most of the time.

I put food in both of their small bowls and went to take a shower and then promptly knocked out.

Morning came and I woke as I always did. Waved my wand to get the kettle going. Then I felt a small pull and remembered the day before. "Fuck!" I got dressed and ready to go and I apparated to the Ministry.

Absolute pandemonium, would be one way to describe it. People were screaming and shouting and running and absolutely everywhere. Someone crashed into me, I just saw a flash of messy black hair, "Harry!" I recognized that hair everywhere.

"Hermione! I am so sorry! It's crazy in here today isn't it! The Auror's are trying to do some crowd control. But it's too much with all the other cases the department has to do. We were only able to assemble a small team. . ."

"Yeah, what's going on? I just got in."

"Well, the ministry put out the announcement of the Department of Mysteries accident yesterday. And a lot of people have question especially since a lot of the people seem to be drawn to another person that is not their significant other." That was expected. I mean, Me and Malfoy.

"Do you know what happened yesterday? I heard it originate from your department." I looked down and looked around. "Hermione. Hermione please tell me you had nothing to do with this." Harry looked at searching me face for answers.

"Ok, I had nothing to do with this." Looking slightly confident, maybe he'll believe that tremendous lie.

"Seriously Hermione. What did you do? This is absolutely insane. Figures it would be you set something like this off."

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"Every since Ron got engaged you have been acting out and being really strange. Out of focus. I understand that you might be upset, that maybe you were hopeful, that maybe you and Ron were going to get back together. But you never gave Ron any indication that you wanted to get together after the war." I looked at him with my mouth open. I could believe what was coming out his mouth.

"I was the one who asked him out after the war! He said no!" I shouted at him, a few people looked our way.

"That's not what Ron told me." And we all believe Ron.

"Well fine, go ahead believe him. Obviously, I am a liar, since I am the one that went on to have a girlfriend 2 months after I asked him out." I hate that Harry always takes Ron side. "And then just as I was getting over him he decides, that he wants to get married to me. And asks me while he drunk and is already engaged to Lavender. And I am the one punished for it. Did you see Malfoy in the bunch?!" I ask in a hurry, I need to get away before I start crying. "You know what, forget it."

Now he is the one with his mouth open. Good he deserves a little bit of shock. That idiot. Boys are stupid. I started to walk away, when I felt his hand on my arm. "Let me go, Harry." I said quietly, I was tired already.

"I am sorry, Hermione. You're right I shouldn't have jumped to conclusions like that and I should pay more attention to the only person that has been by my side. I'm just around Weasley's all the time. They are starting to rub off on me I guess." He chuckled, nervously.

Yeah he should be nervous. "Just listen to me next time I am tired of having to defend myself. when none of it has been my fault. He rejected me."

"Ok, but really what has been going on? You have been all over the place lately."

"Yeah, I have to go. We'll talk about it some other time. Have you seen Malfoy, I am looking for him?" I said absentmindedly.

"Yeah, he's around here somewhere. Said he was looking for you. Wait! Your not! Wait, are you matched with Malfoy?!"

"Well yes if you must know, I found out yesterday when I was making out with him in plain daylight, the department were giving a speech at the time it was quite unexpected."

"Hermione, how can you be so calm about this? It's Malfoy. You should be angry." I realized, I should be having another reaction to my matching with Malfoy. But after careful deliberation, I realized it made perfect sense for me to be matched with Malfoy.

"Can you point me in his direction? But we will have lunch and talk about this later. Owl me, ok Harry?" I was walking towards the direction he was pointing and saw Malfoy standing against the wall next to the elevators.

"Yeah, sure Hermione.I still don't know who I am paired with, I just know it isn't Ginny. She's -" That's the last I heard of Harry as I walked away from him.

Draco Malfoy works for the Department of International Magical and Muggle Cooperation. I heard rumors back when I started working for the Department of Mysteries that he got the job because he excelled in his punishment after the war. Draco Malfoy was sentence to live for 1 year as a muggle no magic and no connection through magic. During that time he was enrolled in a sixth form school and taught muggle studies. Of course, he excelled and went on to go to university for 2 more years before being offered a position within the ministry.

I have not heard anything else about him and we mostly avoid or don't really see each other even though we work in the same building. Snape often talks about him and his accomplishment within both the wizarding community and the muggle government. They say he's changed.

"Malfoy -"

"Call me, Draco, Hermione. I heard there is no way out of this so might as well familiarize ourselves with our first name." Excellent point, don't know if I am ready for that.

"Ok, Draco. We seemed to be matched and one of the first couples to know actually. How lucky I am that you were in the Ministry when everything happened? I feel like hugging you but that's not important right now-"

"You're rambling Gran- Hermione. It's ok though, I just don't know what they next step is for couples that this has happened to. My parents apparently have been matched together since I saw them being quite amorous last night and this morning when I woke up. But it's been quite a stressful time since I got a notices and the news this morning, apparently there is nothing that can be done at the moment about the matches." Great now he's rambling.

"Now you're rambling Malfoy, I mean Draco."

"I do not ramble, Granger." I laughed a bit.

"I have to get to work soon before Professor Snape decides to give me a lecture. But we should have dinner. To figure out what's to be done about this." I point at him and myself, its weird and awkward but I think if I just leave quickly I'll be able to survive, the embarrassment.

"I'll owl you Granger." I was running toward the elevators.


	4. Response

**Explosion at The Ministry **

_The Department of Mysteries had a explosion yesterday that affects every person in Wizarding Britain. According to an announcement yesterday these 'pulses' were a mistake and they were testing antidote but things went awry at the last moment which caused the first wave. Afterward we felt two more that were supposed to calm the effects of the first one. _

_Ladies and gentlemen theses were matching pulses. Apparently, our population has been diminishing during the last 50 years and after the war they department has been making ways to better the situation in order for us not to become a forgotten civilization. These pulses were not supposed to come out in the open until the situation of the population was investigated properly and public opinion was taken into account. _

_Alas this is not what happened. Right now some people might feel the need to go out in search of their match, which is completely normal. _

_To address the other pulses, they were sent out on purpose to try to cancel out the effects of the first pulse. But these antidote pulses did not create the desired effect, they instead dulled the initial pulse. _

_The Department of Mysteries did indeed do something right at least. With the first pulse they were able to record all the couples that were made and everyone on the ledger will be getting a letter with the name of their paramour and an explanation of the effects and procedures of the pulses. _

_According to The Department Head Leander Geheimnis and Minister of Magic, Kingsley Shacklebolt, the pulses are permanent right now they are still trying to investigate how it will affect future generations but they do apologize sincerely. _

_Updates will be sent regularly about the pulses. _

**Pulses Wreak Havoc On Previous Relationships **

_As you have probably read, The Pulses are matching people left and right. But what about previous couplings. _

_After the war, people have been getting together left and right not one person of interest has been single and everyone has tried their best to find the perfect match. Just to find out that the perfect match is not so perfect. _

_Ron Weasley, war hero, best friend of the Boy-Who-Lived, Harry Potter and receiver of Merlin's First Class reward was engaged, I repeat WAS engaged to the beautiful Lavender Brown just last Tuesday when the pulse went off. Come to learn that they are just not meant to be. _

_According to a source that decided to remain anonymous. "They are all broken up about the fact they are bond to be with other people. The Matriarch of the Weasley family seemed pretty broken up about the fact the her youngest son was not going to get married soon." _

_Almost all couples, that have been brought together by war are now dissolved. One couple that has been a huge surprise has been that of the relationship of Harry Potter and the famous Chaser of the HolyHead Harpies Ginevra 'Ginny' Weasley. They have been together since their days at Hogwarts before the war and now being matched with other people has struck a chord in their relationship. _

_They real scandal here is who the dear Ms. Hermione Granger is matched with. She has not been seen with anyone after the war despite getting many request for her company. After a few years of travel she has still managed to remain single. Although we did see some sparks and rumors about her being with a number of men none have real stuck. _

_According to a source that was at the ministry during the time of the pulse. was seen being escorted by Severus Snape no mystery there, they have been seen working together but what if they are indeed matched. Now that would be a story to tell. _

_I will keep you updated on our famous war heroes and who they matched with. Who wouldn't want to get their hands on that list of matches just to satisfy our curiosity. But then again who doesn't like a little surprise with their lunch. _

Snape, seriously, Professor Snape, Severus Snape, that's who they think that I was matched with. Did no one see the kiss that happened in the atrium, in front of everyone. Like everyone, everyone was watching, staring at us kiss. I know I didn't threaten anybody at witch weekly, my best guess the Malfoy's must want to keep this under wraps for a while until it is for sure that Malfoy and I are indeed a match.

To be honest this benefits me. _Tap! Tap! Tap! _I turned towards the sound coming from my kitchen window. Looks like an official Ministry owl. I open the window and the bird swoops in and lands on the my kitchen island, dropping a letter.

I see the ministry seal, this must be the letter that they were sending everyone about their matches and information about the pulses. I open it.

_Dear Ms. Hermione Jean Granger, _

_As you may have heard, the Ministry of Magic has experienced an explosion. Due to this there has been a matching system set in place. Your match is: _

_Draco Malfoy_

_The Ministry of Magic is urging its population to meet up with your match as soon as possible. As the pulse develops it will make you want to be near your match and will make you sick if you have not seen them within a certain amount of time. _

_We are treating this situation with the utmost delicacy and will be keeping you up to date with anything to do with the pulses. _

_If you have any questions please read the supplemented reading materials before contacting the Ministry. _

_Sincerely, _

_Kingsley Shacklebolt _

_Minister of Magic_

The supplemented material fell out of the envelope and unfurled into a small ten page booklet. I picked it up and then another owl flew in through the window. This one regal looking, it kept the letter clutched in its claws. And then a small midnight black owl flew in this time it crashed through the window and skidded on to the island. I knew this owl it was Harry's new owl, Selene, I stroked her just to make sure she was ok and she dropped the letter on the counter.

I opened this one first as I gathered my courage to face the other regal snowy looking owl.

_Hermione, _

_This is ridiculous, I have never been so confused in my entire life. You have to come over this weekend so we discuss and analyze you would not believe just who I got matched to. _

_So let say this Friday evening at 6pm, we'll have dinner, just us and maybe Ron. I think he is still going through it with Lavender. You read the papers I bet. _

_Either way see you then. _

_Oh well good luck. _

_Your friend, _

_Harry _

Exactly I do not know why everyone is acting like they did not see that kiss. It's like it didn't even happen. Was it actually a dream, a figment of my imagination, my wants and needs. I really need to speak to Malfoy. I look at the other owl and find it staring at me. "I guess I'll deal with you now." I moved towards the owl and it stuck out the letter and let me remove it from its clutches and then stayed perched on my counter. I got some treats out, and put some near it, it looks at me and then looked down and then looked at me again, and slightly nods and eats some of the treats.

"Must be waiting for a response, what a weird bird, smart though." I see the seal on the letter and realize it's from Malfoy. "Leave it to him to have such a regal bird."

_Dear Hermione, _

_I suppose you have gotten your Ministry letter by now stating that your match is me. And as we left the conversation the other day. I would like to extend an invitation to dinner this Saturday at 7pm. If that is a reasonable date and time please owl me back. Artemis, is required to wait for your response._

_I am sure you have questions about the articles in the Witch Weekly and our supposed kiss. Just wanted to let you know before you think you're barmy, that Malfoy Enterprises does own the publication and they cannot print anything that we do not want public. Including the kiss, I want to control the narrative on our relationship as I am sure you do also. We will have to give some sort of details soon though because our story would be considered, 'hot news' or so the editor in chief tells me. _

_I will have to do an interview that will be published in the next coming days as per agreement with the publication. I probably will be talking about _

_Either way, looking forward to your response. I miss you. These feeling are completely unusual. _

_Best, _

_Draco Malfoy _

How considerate of him, I would like the ability to control what the media says about me. Understandably I did not know that the Malfoy's owned such publication as Witch Weekly, unsurprising that they would would have a hand in all types of pots.

_Dear Draco, _

_I would like to thank you for bring up today's would be article, I was quite shocked that they had not printed anything about our kiss in Witch Weekly or the Daily Prophet. Though I believe the Daily Prophet did not print anything about it is because the explosion at the Ministry was more important to the population than that of our kiss. I am sure we will be seeing something about it during the following weeks when the matches are announced or when someone sees us out and about._

_I would like to control the story of our supposed future relationship as it is, I would be glad to give a short comment if absolutely necessary to Witch Weekly and even to the Daily Prophet to dispelled any rumours that might up. _

_As for Saturday, I am indeed free on that day but instead of 7pm could we do an early dinner at 5pm. _

_By the way your owl is completely adorable. _

_Love, _

_Hermione Granger _


End file.
